James Rorty

DZouave5@aol.com says:

Dennis:

As the immigrant and Sherman & other assorted topics file off into email, it
is
nonethless interesting to note the words of an Irish-born battery commander
who fell
on July 3, 1863 -- James McKay Rorty. As you and most other Gettysburg
students know, Captain Rorty commanded Battery B, 1st NY Light Artillery --
formerly Pettit's Battery, taking over the guns a day before his death in
battle.

In attempting to explain to his father why he would risk his life in a war
that seemed
of such little consequence to most Irish immigrants (and half of Rorty's
family was still in Donegal), the young officer stated, in part,

"And still further, dear father, let me reassure you of my firm conviction,
that the
separation of this Union into North and South would not only be fatal to the
progress of constitutional freedom but would open impassable barriers in the
way of future immigration. It would close forever the wide portals through
which the pilgrims of liberty from every European clime have sought and found
it. Why? Because at the North the prejudices springing from the hateful and
dominant spirit of Putitanism, and in the South, the haughty exclusiveness of
an Oligarchy would be equally repulsive, intolerant and despotic. Our only
guarantee is the Constitution, our only safety is in the Union, one, and
indivisible."

Rorty was an Irish revolutionary -- quite active in the Fenian Brotherhood.
And as this passage would indicate, he was most eloquent, despite his lack of
a formal education.
He had no love for abolitionists; but he did, clearly, see a cause worthy
giving his life for, though an immigrant; and he gave that promising life
beside his guns, on Cemetery Ridge.